Du Bois challenge 2024 - week 7

Intro

This is my repository for the Du Bois challenge 2024 from the Data Visualization Society.

Week 7

Replica

Code

library(renv)
library(dplyr)
library(stringr)
library(ggplot2)
library(forcats)
library(showtext)
library(plotly)

# Reading data
dubois_week7_raw <- read.csv("01 - Inputs/week 7/data.csv", header = F)

# Composition
dubois_week7 <- dubois_week7_raw
names(dubois_week7) <- c("country", "percentages")
dubois_week7 <- dubois_week7 %>%
  mutate(
    color = if_else(country == "Negroes, U.S.A.", "red", "green"),
    sorted_country = fct_reorder(country, percentages),
    percentages = round(percentages),
    percentages_text = paste0(percentages, "%")
  )

# Data viz helpers
dubois_week7_palette <- c(red = "#dc143c", green = "#00aa00")
alternative_week7_palette <- c(red = "#EE5859", green = "#209EA0")

dubois_theme <- function() {
  theme_minimal() +
    theme(
      text = element_text(family = "Public Sans"),
      plot.title = element_text(hjust = 0.5),
      plot.subtitle = element_text(hjust = 0.5),
      panel.grid = element_blank()
    )
}
font_add_google(name = "Public Sans")

# Outputs
replica_week7 <- dubois_week7 |>
  ggplot(aes(x = sorted_country, y = percentages, fill = color)) +
  geom_col() +
  coord_flip() +
  guides(fill = "none") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = dubois_week7_palette) +
  labs(
    x = "",
    y = "",
    title = str_wrap("Illiteracy of the American Negroes compared with that of other nations.", 60),
    subtitle = str_wrap("Proportion d'illetrrés parmis les Nègres Americains comparée à celle des autres nations.", 60)
  ) +
  dubois_theme() +
  theme(axis.text.x = element_blank())

(a) Original week 7

(b) My version

Figure 1: Week 7

Alternative

My proposed changes:

• Adding the percentages to have a reference, without an axis or the numbers, it is only possible to relatively see the difference, e.g. top 3 have a higher illiteracy but by how much?
• Adding a legend of the bottom axis.
• Left alignment of the titles.
• Changing color palette to a more colorblind friendly one.
• In the interactive graph, only the percentages for Negroes, U.S.A. is shown to highlight it. User can hover if s/he wants to compare.

Alternative - static

Code

alternative_week7 <- dubois_week7 |>
  ggplot(aes(x = sorted_country, y = percentages, fill = color)) +
  geom_col() +
  geom_text(aes(label = percentages_text), nudge_y = 2, size = 3) +
  coord_flip() +
  guides(fill = "none") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = alternative_week7_palette) +
  labs(
    x = "",
    y = "Proportion of illiteracy",
    title = str_wrap("Proportion of illiteracy of the American Negroes compared to other nations.", 70),
    subtitle = str_wrap("Proportion d'illetrrés parmis les Nègres Américains comparée à celle des autres nations.", 70)
  ) +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(text = element_text(family = "Public Sans"))
alternative_week7

Figure 2: Alternative

Alternative - interactive

Code

alternative_week7b <- dubois_week7 |>
  ggplot(aes(x = sorted_country, y = percentages, fill = color, text = percentages_text)) +
  geom_col() +
  geom_text(aes(x = "Negroes, U.S.A.", y = 60, label = "57%")) +
  coord_flip() +
  guides(fill = "none") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = alternative_week7_palette) +
  labs(
    x = "",
    y = "Proportion of illiteracy"
  ) +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(text = element_text(family = "Public Sans"))
alternative_week7b_ly <- ggplotly(alternative_week7b, tooltip = "text") |>
  layout(title = list(text = paste0("Proportion of illiteracy of the American Negroes compared to other nations.",
                                    "<br>",
                                    "<sup>",
                                    "Proportion d'illetrrés parmis les Nègres Américains comparée à celle des autres nations."),
                      x = 0.1))

alternative_week7b_ly$x$layout$margin$t <- 30
alternative_week7b_ly

Figure 3: Alternative interactive

Reuse